I felt very lucky when PHILADELPHA Australia offered to send their brand new cheese product for me to test on my meatball sandwich. When I was growing up it was called a meatball sandwich and then when I went to university it was a grinder and then a meatball sub – but honestly, good bread, good meatballs, outstanding sauce and great cheese — and you can call it anything and I’ll sit at your table.

The new cheese is a combination of PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese and Tasty cheddar cheese. When I heard about it all I could think of was how wonderful it would be when it was melted. I wasn’t disappointed.

I started by making the meatballs. The ground beef wasn’t really fat enough for me but with the sauce, it turned out just fine. There are herbs, garlic, egg, onion, wet bread crumbs and panko along with the mince.

Every busy mother knows that meatballs can be done in the oven which saves heaps of time. I cooked mine at 180C/350F for about 15 minutes until they were nice and brown on the outside.

I used some sauce I had in the freezer and added some red capsicum. Why red? It was in the refrigerator. I would have preferred green but when you need a capsicum/pepper and red is all you have, red it is.

I had some nice crusty hot dog rolls and one baguette so I tried them both. On one of the hot dog rolls I sliced it and pinched out a bit of bread so I could add more sauce and on the baguette, I filled it as much as I thought I could get away with without the meatballs falling on the floor. I topped with the cheese and popped them in the oven. I took them out before the cheese was fully gooey because I prefer my meatball sandwiches without the cheese too brown. I like my sandwiches REALLY cheesy so I put some of the Grated PHILLY & Tasty cheese in a small bowl and microwaved it for a few seconds and poured it on top. My sandwich was just what I like to eat.

I always have meatballs and sauce in the freezer so a meal is nearly ready once I have the cheese and rolls. It's a family favourite.

Author: Maureen Shaw

Recipe type: Sandwich

Cuisine: American

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Meatballs

500 grams beef mince

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon oil

1 egg

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

½ teaspoon sage

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ cup fresh bread crumbs soaked in 2 tablespoons of milk

¼ cup panko crumbs

2½ cups tomato sauce (your homemade favourite or in a jar from the supermarket)

Sandwiches

Bread rolls or baguette

1 cup Grated Philly & Tasty cheese

Instructions

Meatballs

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Sauté onion in a skillet with the oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the onions to help them sweat and not turn brown. Cool.

Add all ingredients except sauce to a large mixing bowl and combine with your fingers. Don't overwork and mixture should stay light.

Form meatballs and place on a greased baking sheet. Try to make them all the same size so they will cook evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are nicely browned.

Place sauce in a saucepan on medium heat and bring to the boil and then turn down to a bare simmer.

When the meatballs are done, add to the sauce.

Sandwiches

Cut the bread to make a pocket for and add the meatballs and sauce to the roll. Top with the grated cheese and place in the oven at 180C/350F for about 10 minutes or until the cheese begins to turn a golden brown on the edges.

Thanks to PHILADELPHIA Australia for sending two samples of their new Grated PHILLY and Tasty cheese for me to experiment with. Australians are able to buy this new grated cheese now from their local supermarket.